Posted: Thu, Oct 27, 2005, 8:33 AM ET (1233 GMT)
A Kosmos rocket successfully launched several small satellites Thursday, including a European student-built spacecraft and Iran's first satellite. The Kosmos 3M lifted off from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 2:52 am EDT (0652 GMT) Thursday, placing its payload of eight satellites into orbit. On board the Kosmos was Iran's first satellite, Sinah-1, a 170-kilogram spacecraft variously as a remote sensing or reconnaissance satellite. The Kosmos also launched SSETI Express, a satellite built by 200 students from around Europe; it, in turn, is carrying three student-built picosatellites that will be deployed after launch. The Kosmos also carried Mozhayets-5, a satellite built by a Russian military academy, and two remote sensing satellites built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., TopSat and Beijing-1 (formerly China DMC+4). A second Iranian satellite, Mesbah, was reportedly supposed to be launched with the other satellites, but was not listed with the others in most media reports.